Oil-mat



(No Model.)

G.LEDER.

I OIL MAT. No. 257,728. Patented May 9,1882. w

N, PETERS. Pholo-Uthogrlpher. wmrigm. n. c.

UNITED STATES .PATENT OF ICE.

GEORGE LEDER, OF DEMOPOLIS, ALABAMA.

OIL-MAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,728, dated May 9, 1882. Application filed March 31,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE LEDER, of Demopolis, in the county of Maren g0 and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Mats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in oil-mats adapted more particularly for use in expressing cotton-seed oil and it consists mainly in the construction and arrangement of a grooved and perforated edging rigidly so cured to a metallic oil-mat, as will be hereinafter more fully explained and set forth.

Heretofore and at present, in cotton-seedoil mills, the cotton-seeds are first cleaned, gin ned, and hulled, after which they are crushed and subjected to heat for the purpose of expelling dampness and moisture from the crushed seeds, which are then filled into sacks ot'the desired size, made of press-cloth. These sacks are then'placed in. hair or metallic mats, which latter are placed in suitable boxes and subjected to pressure of about three thousand five hundred or four thousand pounds to the square inch, during which a part of the oil is expressed from the seeds. The sacks before referred to each contain about thirteen pounds of thekernels, which yield about two and threequarters pounds of oil, leaving a residuum of aboutten and one-quarter pounds of meal or oilcake. The hair mat, after being used a while, hasa tendency to stretch or elongate and widen, and it becomes too large for the box above referred to, in consequence of which the kernels at the ends which project outside the box do not receive the full pressure, and there is a consequentloss of about one ounce of oil in the mat, which is about three per cent. of the entire yield from a single mat at one pressing. When pressure is applied to the hair mats there is not sufficient escape for the contained air, which bursts the sack, and soon becomes unfit for use. I

The objection to the use of the metallic mats heretofore employed is that they afford no'sufficient means for preventing the bag from stretching beyond the sides of the mat, which renders it liable to the objections before noted, and where they do employ side flanges or ridges for the purpose of preventing the sack from stretching they are deficient in means of egress for the oil and air, which renders them unfit for the purposes in view.

The object of this present invention is to overcome some of the objections above noted by providing a metallic mat adapted to receive the sack, and provided with side ridges having transverse slots and longitudinal grooves for the escape of the oil and air.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view, showing my mat in partlyopen adjustment; and Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same in ment.

The mat is made of any suitable metal, and consists oft'he two leaves A, about five-eighths of an inch thick and of any suitable size, secured together by the flexible hinge B. Each closed adj ustleaf or plate A is provided on its internal face with the side strips or flanges, 0, made of any suitable metal, and formed integral with the leaves A, or rigidly secured thereto by riveting or otherwise, and each ridge or strip U is transversely perforated at suitable distances apart for the passage of the oil and air.' The perforations o are situated in the same horizontal plane with the inner faces of the plates A, so as to enable the oil to freely flow from the mats as soon as it is expressed from the contained kernels. Alongitudinal groove orpassage, D, extends between each flange O and its corresponding plate A, one half of the said groove being formed in thesaid plate A, while the other half thereof is formed in the side flange, 0. This groove D is about three-eighths of an inch wide and aboutone-eighth ot'an inchdeep, which size is suflicient to enable the oil to pass from the mats as soon as it is expressed from the seeds. The transverse perforations a are about one inch apart, semicircular in shape, and about one-half the size of the groove or passage D. The object of these grooves and holes is to admit of the escape of air and oil, while the side flanges, O, prevent the sacks from spreading, which causes a loss: of oil, as before described.

These metallic mats, smaller in size than the hair mats, enable two or more of the former to be placed in the pressbox instead of one of the 1atter,and thereby increase the yield proportionately.

In these metallic mats there is no possible stretching, which allows full and complete pressure to be extended on all parts of the sack, which expresses the oil from the seeds 5 in all parts of the sack alike, and thereby saving about three per cent., which was heretofore lost by the stretching of the mat.

The longitudinal groove D, before referred to, passes centrally through the transverse [O perforations a, and is large enough to carry off the oil as fast as it is expressed, and hence all danger of clogging of the parts caused by the mats fitting up closely against the sides of the box and stopping the flow of oil therefrom is obviated. As fast as the oil is expressedfrom the seeds it flows through the transverse perforations into the longitudinal slot D, and from thence it passes to the receiver from both ends of the slots D.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A mat for expressing oil, composed of two metallic leaves hinged together at one end, each leaf being provided with two side flanges or ridges, and each side flange or ridge being traversed by transverse and longitudinal grooves, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, GEORGE LEDER.

Witnesses:

J. T. JONES, G Us A. HENRY. 

